Ueberroth Resigns From Rebuild L.A.

ByCompiledMax BootMay 24, 1993

FORMER baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth has resigned as co-chairman of Rebuild L.A., an organization created to revive riot-torn areas of the city.

"I think this organization is a little too identified with me," Mr. Ueberroth said Friday. "It's important for this organization, as it grows in year two, that the focus should be different than a focus on Pete Ueberroth."

Ueberroth said he will remain on the board of Rebuild L.A. to recruit private investment in riot-damaged neighborhoods, but the group will be led by the four remaining co-chairs.

During Rebuild L.A.'s first year of operation, businesses pledged $450 million to create jobs and jump-start the economy in impoverished areas ravaged by arson and looting. But Ueberroth, the best known of the co-chairs, also spent much of his time deflecting community and media criticism that the organization was moving too slowly and failing to address riot victims' needs.

Some critics noted that Ueberroth is a wealthy white Republican from the suburbs. The remaining co-chairs include a black, a Hispanic-American, an Asian-American, and a white. Rush for cookies

The bake sale billed as Rushstock '93 became a mass right-wing happening Saturday when thousands gathered to honor radio gadfly Rush Limbaugh and to buy a cookie for conservatism.

At least 20,000 people packed Old Town Square in Fort Collins, Colo., standing shoulder-to-shoulder across the brick street and outlasting a brief hailstorm to cheer Mr. Limbaugh's arrival.

"This is exactly how I thought it would be," said Limbaugh, the nation's No. 1 radio talk-show host. "I see happy people."

The gathering grew out of Dan Kay's desire for a subscription to a newsletter put out by Limbaugh, who regularly bashes "feminazis," Hillary Clinton, "environmental wackos," homeless advocates, and the liberal media in his nationwide syndicated talk show.

"The Rush Limbaugh Show" has about 18 million listeners nationwide.

Last March, Mr. Kay told Limbaugh during his program that he was receiving copies of the newsletter from a friend in Oregon. He said he could not afford the $29.95 subscription, so Limbaugh suggested Kay hold a bake sale. The tumultuous Rushstock '93 was the result.